Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) 2011

The Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) hopes to grow exports to US$ 89 billion by 2013 and to US$ 120 billion by the end of 2016, an official said.

Emmarita Mijares, deputy executive director of the Export Development Council, said that even if the country’s export performance slowed in 2011, they will not be reducing the target as they hope to make up for the loss in the succeeding years until they meet the 2016 target.

She said there is hope yet, as other sectors can bring up the drop in electronics exports.

She noted that in September, with a 47-percent drop in electronics exports, the total export growth dropped just three percent because the agribusiness and services sector pulled the country up.

She said this was an indication that the country has begun diversifying its products.

In Central Visayas, export values dropped 18.7 percent to US$ 967,029,084 for the first semester this year, while import values dropped 48.9 percent at US$ 834,901,498.

The PEDP indentifies nine key export sectors that have a high probability of success, based on its current export volumes, the supply chain attributes, local Value-added qualities and the total employment brought about by the sector.

Mijares said these sectors were also chosen to work in line with the country’s Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016 of having inclusive growth.

The sectors are in information technology-business process outsourcing and its other services, electronics, agribusiness, minerals, shipbuilding, motor vehicle parts, garments and textiles, home style and wearables.

Mijares said these sectors not only provided the country with huge export growth and volume, but these were also responsible for providing many jobs, one of the key requirements of attaining inclusive growth.

She also noted that other categories such as organic natural products, halal, kosher and green export products add more value to exports, and hopes producers will try to meet the demands of these categories as well.

Mijares said more than US$ 1 trillion can be gained for organic and natural products, over US$ 630 billion from halal products and some US$ 50 million kosher products worldwide.

She added that both halal and kosher demands grow by 10 percent annually, as even non-Muslims and non-Jewish people opt to buy these foods for their health qualities.

Mijares said the country’s exports have an impact on inclusive growth.

In a presentation, she showed that if the target export growth is met in 2013, the country’s gross domestic product will rise by 30 percent and will add an additional 4.7 million jobs.